Dangerous Calling (The Shadowminds) (25 page)

I woke up to the smell of coffee.

It must have been an illusion, my traitorous brain tricking me into thinking the past week had been a bad dream. I wasn’t going to fall for it. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

“She sure is sleeping a long time.”

“Give her a break. She’s had a rough week.”

“You sure she’s all right?”

“She’s all right. Let her rest.”

The voices were familiar. More tricks. I opened one eye and saw Shane.

I closed my eyes again. Not possible.

“Come on, Cass. It’s almost nine o’clock.” He nudged me, and there was no mistaking the familiar feel of him. His mental touch was like his physical one. Warm, familiar. Shane. I opened my eyes and sat up.

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled. “I’m happy to see you too.”

I frowned at him. Ian and Diana stood behind him. Diana was shifting back and forth, and Ian had his wings spread. The beginning of a half-smile made his mouth twitch.

“What are
they
doing here?”

Diana stepped forward. “You don’t mind, do you?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. She took this for agreement.

“Once you left, it all got clear. It’s like...you decided. And the visions decided too. So I knew what we had to do.”

She opened her memory to me. It was in the kitchen at the B&B, and she was talking to Shane, who showed every sign of not listening. He was using a toothbrush and a chisel to clean what looked like a car part, littering the table with dirt and rust flakes.

“She said to let her go, so goddammit, I’m letting her go. You don’t think I would’ve tied her down if I thought it would help?”

“But she didn’t know what I know now. She hasn’t seen it yet.”

He stopped scraping and looked at her, still skeptical. “What?”

In the memory, she smiled. I pulled out of her head and looked at Shane. “You mean...”

“You’re not going to kill me,” he said.

“But you still have some work to do,” Diana said. “And that’s why we’re here.” She grinned as if they’d all stopped by for a friendly Sunday visit.

I peeled the sleeping bag back and swung my feet to the floor, glad for once that I’d fallen asleep in my clothes. I looked at Diana. “Explain.”

“Annette taught me how to control my mind—and that means I can teach you how to control yours. I’m going to train you.” She looked absolutely thrilled about it.

“I’m just pull-bait,” Ian said helpfully. “Plus, this is as good a place as any to hide out while Lance works his magic.”

“But still—you shouldn’t be here—none of you should be here. I’m not through this yet. I need time—”

“I told you before, you don’t break something like this alone.” Ian rubbed his forearm where I knew the tattooed marks ticked off his years of sobriety. “Never works.”

“But the B&B—”

“Bruce,” Shane said. “He’ll keep it going while we’re gone.”

“Not like we’re in Russia.” Ian flapped his wings. “Free transportation.” It was the closest he’d ever come to cracking a joke.

“Look, Cass.” Shane dropped his voice and stepped closer. “You’ve tried it your way for a week. Has it been working?”

I looked away. “I’m getting better. I just need time—”

“You need support. You need help. We’ll give you space when you need it, but we’re not leaving.” He waited until I met his eyes. “I’m not leaving.”

“What about your training? Aren’t you going to anchor?”

“We don’t have to decide that yet. And Ian can show me the ropes—what better place to train than out here?”

Ian inclined his head.

“I guess you guys thought of everything.”

Diana held up a bag full of candy bars and instant hot chocolate packets. “Yep. Everything.”

* * *

That night, Shane and I slept on the back porch overlooking the swamp. We zipped our two sleeping bags together to make one big one and set up a ring of citronella candles around us. They were there to keep the mosquitos away, but they were pretty romantic too. Somewhere out in the swamp, two owls called to each other.

“I seem to remember you promising not to look for me,” I told him. He was curled around me from behind, so I couldn’t see his face, but I felt his chest move when he chuckled.

“Technically, I didn’t. I just came along for the ride with Ian and Diana.”

I frowned. “How did you even know I’d be here?”

He laughed a little more. “Come on, Cass. Give me a little credit.”

“You snooped?” I whacked him on the arm that circled around me, twisting so I could see his face. His skin was dark gold in the candlelight.

“I didn’t snoop.” He caught my arm and held it. “I figured it out. And then Diana confirmed it.”

I grumbled something about interfering fortune-tellers and turned to fit myself against him again. Shane kept hold of my arm. I looked out over the open expanse of swamp, the dead zone ironically brighter without a lush canopy of leaves to block out the moonlight. Out here, away from the city, I could see what seemed like millions of stars.

“It hasn’t really gotten better, has it?” he asked softly.

I focused on the way his fingers traced patterns on my arm. “Not really, no.” Ian was eight feet away through a single layer of flimsy wood. Even with Shane’s body this close to mine, I could’ve counted the guardian’s heartbeats.

“It will.”

“Is that what Diana said?”

“She said you weren’t going to kill me.”

“I guess I’ll have to trust that she’s right.”

He turned me so our eyes could meet. “Cass, I would’ve come regardless. I would’ve given you time, but I wouldn’t have let you go forever.” He brushed hair from my face, his fingers trailing gently over my scars, his body bracketing mine. “When are you going to figure it out? We’re in this together.”

“I’m scared,” I admitted. “What if I can’t get control of it? And then if you anchor—”

“Then I won’t anchor until you get control of it.” He propped himself over me on both arms. “You said you would marry me, Cass Weatherfield. I don’t know why you thought I’d let you get away.”

I should’ve been worried. I should’ve been demanding that he leave, demanding that they all leave, stay away where it was safe. But for the first time since I’d felt the cravings, I also felt like I had a shot at getting through them without someone ending up dead. For the first time since I’d arrived, I looked out at the darkened swamp and felt something like hope. I twisted my engagement ring and watched the stone catch the candlelight. Shane took my hand and brought it to his lips.

“Consider me happy to be caught,” I told him, and smiled as he bent his head to claim me.

* * * * *

Where no great story goes
untold.
The variety you want to read, the stories authors have
always wanted to write.
With new releases every week, your next great read
is just a download away!

Keep in touch with Carina Press:
Read our blog:
www.CarinaPress.com/blog
Follow us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/CarinaPress
Become a fan on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/CarinaPress

ISBN-13: 9781426898839

Dangerous Calling

Copyright © 2014 by A.J. Larrieu

Edited by Deborah Nemeth

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

www.CarinaPress.com